


Who Needs Therapy When You Can Just Shave Your Head?

by Aesops_Tables



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hair, Mud, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rain, cutting hair, post-buried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26342590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aesops_Tables/pseuds/Aesops_Tables
Summary: After the Buried, Daisy is struggling to recover. Sometimes impulsively shaving off your hair is exactly the solution you need.
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Who Needs Therapy When You Can Just Shave Your Head?

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning that this work displays PTSD and a panic attack/past trauma getting triggered.   
> Although yhe ptsd and the panic attack are both brief and not graphic in description, if either of those things might trigger you, please take this as a warning to click off <3

The Buried affected Jon and Daisy very differently, that much was obvious.Of course, Jon was only stuck in there for 3 days, but it was still clear he was a little shaken by it all. He avoided heavy clothes, which was a bit unconventional in the chilly spring weather and the even chillier archival temperature remaining a steady 60°F year-round. He also seemed to go outside for fresh air more often. At first, Martin was worried that he had started smoking again, but after a few times spying him, he realized it was quite the opposite. 

Daisy, on the other hand, was much more affected by it. She had to stay by someone at all times, typically Melanie or Basira, and she refused to sleep with any blankets. She would cry quietly into Basira's shoulder whenever it rained, and began to obsess over cleaning the dirt from under her nails, when they weren't chewed to pieces. Her hair was always up now, out of her face in a tight bun, and she avoided showers at all costs.

One evening, though, she broke. 

It had been a bad day to begin with. She woke up to the sound of booming thunder and laid in terror for 2 hours, holding Basira close to her the entire time. Her fingers started bleeding, as she had chewed too far when biting her nails. Then Basira ran out of her favorite cereal, so they went out together to get some more, as well as some bandages for her fingers. The trip was okay, until it started sprinkling again on their way back.

Basira told her not to run. She held her hand and told her not to run. She said, "Daisy, please don't try to run."  _ She told her not to run. _

Instead of listening, though, she broke free of Basira's hold and sprinted back to the archives. Basira ran after her, but there was no way she could have prevented Daisy from slipping at that point.

She slipped on the slick mud under her feet and fell backwards. She caught herself slightly, but not enough to save herself from getting her back, hands, and hair covered in mud. She scrambled to her feet, heart racing in the most unpleasant way, when Basira finally caught up with her.

"Shh, Shh, you're okay. Look at me. Look at me," she whispered, cradling . "It's okay. You're okay. Take my hand, Daisy. Hey, look at me. Were gonna get you cleaned up, and you're gonna be okay. Okay?"

Daisy couldn't do anything but sniffle and nod.

It was a horrible walk. The cars were loud and the rain felt like it was burning her skin and too many people were staring at them, but they made it back to the archives without too many other problems. Basira sat Daisy down on their cot and came back quickly with a wet towel and the bandages they bought earlier.

"Melanie's got your favorite tea brewing," she said gently, helping her out of her muddy clothes. She bandaged up her fingers and some of the scrapes she got from the fall, and then ran the soft towel over her back and neck. She made a small  _ 'tsk'  _ sound when she poked at the mud matted into Daisy's hair. 

"I think you'll need a shower to get that out, Daisy. Is that okay?" she asked.

Daisy shook her head. "Cut it off."

"What?"

"Cut it off," she said, slightly louder this time. 

"Daisy, are you sure? There might be a different solution, you don't need to cut it off just to avoid a shower--" she definitely had more to say, but Daisy interrupted her quickly by interlocking their fingers and squeezing her hand. 

"Been thinking about it for a while. 'S too much hassle, 'n 's too heavy to be worth it," she said. 

Basira opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, clearly rethinking her words. "...Okay. If that's what you want, we'll do that. How short do you want it?

"Buzzcut," she answered quickly. Then she added, in a softer voice, "Please."

"Okay, we can do that. Let me ask Martin, I think he still has his clippers from when he stayed here during the Prentiss attack," Basira said. She made a motion to move away, but Daisy didn't seem to register that and kept her hold on Basira's hand. Basira stopped and her expression softened. "I'll be back in less than 10 minutes, I promise. Can you wait that long by yourself? I can call Melanie over if you need--"

"No. No, I'm okay. Sorry," she muttered, reluctantly letting go of Basira's hand.

"Oh, Daisy…" Basira leaned over and kissed her forehead gently. Daisy's face flushed and she had to look away. She did glance back over as Basira walked off, though, and admired how patient she was being. Not everyone could be this understanding, and Daisy knew that. She just got lucky. 

While Daisy was waiting, Melanie came by with her tea. They chatted a bit about what happened and what Daisy was hoping to do with her hair, but it was spoken with a general casualty that made the event seem like a normal, everyday occurrence that everyone goes through. It made her less embarrassed about everything, and she wished she could have conversations like this more often. 

Basira came back. as promised, within 10 minutes. She held clippers in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.

"I've never done this before," she warned as she plugged in the clippers and they buzzed to life.

"It doesn't have to be perfect. Just get rid of as much hair as you can."

And with those instructions, Basira cut off Daisy's bun and began shaving. They didn't talk, but she would sometimes brush some hair off of Daisy's shoulder and Daisy would reach up and hold her hand for a couple seconds. One of those times she took it a little further and brought the back of Basira's hand up to her lips and she kissed it. Basira smiled at that.

Ten minutes later, the clippers turned off and Basira finally spoke up. "All done," she said, wiping her hands on her pants and brushing the rest of Daisy's hair off of her shoulder.

Daisy rushed to the bathroom to see how it looked, Basira and Melanie following close behind her.

The sight she saw in the mirror was… different. She couldn't help but notice the bags underneath her eyes and the splotch of mud that Basira missed on her neck. But her head felt so unburdened and although the buzzcut made her look a lot more strict and intimidating, she felt so  _ free. _

She saw Basira smiling behind her and whipped around to strangle her with a hug. "It's perfect, thank you," she whispered.

They stood there, basking in each other's embrace, for a long, long time.


End file.
